Association of genetic polymorphisms related to Johne’s disease with estimated breeding values of Holstein sires for milk ELISA test scores

BACKGROUND: Johne’s disease (JD) is a chronic intestinal inflammatory disease caused by Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) infection in ruminants. Since there are currently no effective vaccine or treatment options available to control JD, genetic selection may be an alternative strategy to enhance JD resistance. Numerous Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) have been reported to be associated with MAP infection status based on published genome-wide association and candidate gene studies. The main objective of this study was to validate these SNPs that were previously identified to be associated with JD by testing their effect on Holstein bulls’ estimated breeding values (EBVs) for milk ELISA test scores, an indirect indicator of MAP infection status in cattle. RESULTS: Three SNPs, rs41810662, rs41617133 and rs110225854, located on Bos taurus autosomes (BTA) 16, 23 and 26, respectively, were confirmed as significantly associated with Holstein bulls’ EBVs for milk ELISA test score (FDR < 0.01) based on General Quasi Likelihood Scoring analysis (GQLS) analysis. Single-SNP regression analysis identified four SNPs that were associated with sire EBVs (FDR < 0.05). This includes two SNPs that were common with GQLS (rs41810662 and rs41617133), with the other two SNPs being rs110494981 and rs136182707, located on BTA9 and BTA16, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study validate the association of SNPs with JD MAP infection status and highlight the need to further investigate the genomic regions harboring these SNPs.